THE WEEKENDER-Singing Anchors

TALENT WITH TALENT

     In the television news business, the anchors, correspondents and reporters are referred to as "Talent." Some are, as in talented.

     The gold standard used to be experience in the field, as a reporter. The influence of consultants-they used to be called news doctors-and the advent of cable news led to a sea of talent who were essentially good at looking good.  In some cases, little else accompanied the package.

      There are still good, intelligent and skilled journalistic talent working.  As a news executive I looked for life experience and journalistic experience ahead of the cosmetic factors. I was able to hire many good talent. And then there was the extraordinary guy.

      He was a young guy still, not too long out of school and was working in one of our broadcast divsion's smaller markets.  I had known his father, when we were street reporters, back in our youth. Since then Phil had gone on to a solid and illustrious broadcast career in the tough Chicago market.  Phil had another son Dan who also had followed him into broadcasting.  So I knew Anthony had great news "genes," on top of his own intelligent and capable work. It was an easy hire.  

     When he arrived I learned that he was also a concert pianist and a vocalist.  A talent with real talent.

     In what I think must be a book waiting to be written, Phil, Dan and Anthony practice their skill in Chicago. At this years Newzapalooza charitable fundraiser, brothers Dan and Anthony displayed a talent, deeper than that required on a news desk.  Ironically they perform their tune THE ANCHORMAN.  

    Enjoy the Ponce brothers, and have a great weekend.

Dan, Phil and Anthony Ponce in Chicago.
Photo courtesy of Yvette Marie Postani for The Chicago Tribune
See you down the trail. 

THANKS

THE GIFT

Dad used to remind us to make the most of each day.

This day, set aside as a special time for reflection, family, friends and celebration is a great pause on our journey.

Make the most of it. Enjoy.   

  May you all know the serenity and strength

of the ancient Sequoias.

 Happy Thanksgiving!  See you down the trail.

GRATITUDE IS UNDER VALUED

LOOKING FOR IT

      I'm grateful for a walk my mother took with me one autumn day as the oaks, sycamores, elms and maples were resplendent.  She said it was one of the most beautiful falls she had seen.  It was an unusual thing, a hike in the park with my busy and laboring mom. As we strolled beneath old and ancient trees ablaze in red, orange, yellow and crunched over the leaves on the path I noticed the world, maybe really for the first time.

     Natural beauty stirs a deep awe in those who are sensitive to it. 

 PIER LIGHT

Seeing it again

subtle changes in seconds

     Thank you to the cosmic set designers!!
     See you down the trail.

SOME CARE, SOME DON'T

WONDER WHAT IS SAYS ABOUT US

    Our mid 20's daughter offered as to how she is sick of hearing about the latest "sex scandal."  A wise and sensitive young lady, she suggested that perhaps America's sexual dysfunction leads to this prurient interest. May be. Might also be the historic interest in seeing people in power revealed as having feet of clay or human foibles like the rest of us.  And do you think there could also be a little truth to the adage "sex sells?"

      But, I also wonder about the betrayed spouses and children.  How do they live with the ignominy?  May well be some less than happy thanksgiving tables at a few homes.

     It could be a chapter in a book and maybe a turn in Cambria history.

     A popular young couple work hard, invest a lot of sweat equity turning an abandoned restaurant into a new and modern pub and steak house but in the first week of operation depart, the result of a break with their business partner.  

    There had been high hopes for the prime location.  Reviews were mixed. Now people are told the place will be headed in a new direction. What does that mean?  What was behind the split?  Locals are buzzing. 

     I've got an idea out of left field. Why doesn't Stephen Hearst, VP and General Manager of Hearst Corporation Western Properties, step in and create a real steak house, a premiere place for the world class Hearst Beef, grown just up the road?  It could also be the perfect venue for the Hearst Wine vintages that are also making an impact on the market.  Seems a perfect show place for their product, a unique dining spot in a somewhat crowded local restaurant scene. LA and San Francisco visitors beat a path to Cambria already, and a truly top quality steak house could add to the lure.  Marketing and Ad dollars are not a problem for the Hearst Corporation and this is after all their true "terroir."

    So from here in the peanut gallery, it's an easily offered option.
    BTW, for those who may not know.  Stephen is from the same clan as William Randolph Hearst-he of the Hearst Castle that tops a mountain just 6 miles away.  It is California State Parks most visited tourist spot. And the Hearst empires continues still.

    FINALLY, SOME GOOD NEWS ABOUT A GENERAL

    The headline is borrowed from my friend and fellow blogger Frank who send this interesting little bit of history.

Attention old surf rock fans-they may surprise you.

     See you down the trail.

      

THE WEEKENDER-VIDEO MAGIC

A CLOSER LOOK

     Thanks to those who either posted or emailed comments about Lana's first place award in the Cambria Allied Arts juried show.  For those who said they'd like a better look-here tis-

Lone Palm Trail

16 X 20 Oil

You can see more of Lana's art at her

blog by linking here.

REEL NOTES

SKY FALL

     50 years into the franchise, and the James Bond thrillers

are not only still entertaining, but perhaps better than ever.

     Gone are the campy innuendo lines, gratuitous Bond and gorgeous woman falling into bed scenes and the over the top special effects and weapons.  In it's place is a cleaner story line, real character development, cleverness and an aging Bond in a cyber security world.  Daniel Craig continues his chiseling of a life like Ian Flemming created MI 6 agent.  Where Sean Connery had charm, Craig has melancholy. Dame Judy Dench as M is wonderful and Javier Bardam as bad guy Silva is again deviously twisted and masterful.  Albert Finney and Ralph Fiennes both turn in great supporting character roles.

      This is the 23rd Bond film and director Sam Mendes provides you a thrill ride and taut drama.  Thomas Newman's music is brilliant, especially his ability to reprise classic Bond themes at appropriate moments of historical vignettes.  If you like big budget, big films that are pure entertainment, this is a great popcorn film.

HOW DID THEY DO THIS?

The Weekender Remaps time

    Here is a video mind boggler, that demonstrates a special effect edit technique called time remapping.  Thanks to Beverly for sending it along.

     Have a great weekend.  See you down the trail.

A HUBBY'S PRIDE & A SURPRISE FROM THE ATTIC

BEING HER #1 FAN

     She takes it humbly with a kind of chuckle, but I'm a proud fan and bragging about it.  Lana took first place in  the Cambria Allied Arts Association juried show. It's a big deal because Cambria is an art colony and the competition is tough. The Plein Air oil was done near one of our favorite hiking trails.

FROM HERE

     I am hard pressed to understand how General Allen could 

produce 20 to 30 thousand e-mails and still be getting the job done. 

     Also miffed why guys as sharp as he and General Petraeus would engage in romantic conversations using DOD and CIA computers.  Duh!!!

FROM THE ATTIC

     Found this classic in an old photo file.  This is from the way back machine.  The lad in the T-shirt is Cris "Moto Groove" Conner, the Daliesque artist and social conveyer back in the day.  The bearded gent is Bruce Taylor aka The Catalyst of Oddball Observations Blogger fame. The kid in the back is this blogger.  This was taken in the old WIBC/WNAP Newsroom on what I think was Taylor's last day before decamping to Arizona.  BTW-notice the typewriters, old audio board and the shirt and tie combinations? What were we thinking?

DAY FILE

The California Skies

     See you down the trail.

MEDITATIONS ON MEN, WOMEN & EROS

A PRAYER FOR PETRAEUS

" LORD GIVE ME CHASTITY-BUT NOT YET"
Saint Augustine  354-430

     It's too bad for the whole cast that any of this is now front page and 24/7 news.  

"Deceiving others, that is what the world 

calls a romance"

Oscar Wilde

     How does it begin?  A touch, a look, a playful flirtation that goes too far?

      Sad that a good man with stellar service to his nation is deposed by private actions and sad too that we are denied his capable skill.

"The surest protection against temptation is cowardice."

Mark Twain

      We are right to question though, why a chief of intelligence would leave the kind of trail that investigators have chased.

"Oh what a tangled web we weave...when first we

practice to deceive."

Walter Scott

Quoted by Senator Sam Ervin during Watergate

"And thus I clothe my naked villainy

with odd old ends stolen out of holy writ;

And seem a saint, when most I play the devil."

William Shakespeare, Richard III

  As editorial cartoons and pundits have noted, Petraeus is not alone in his submission to lust.

"I've looked on many women with lust. I've committed

adultery in my heart many times. God knows I will

do this and he forgives me."

President Jimmy Carter

"We are never like angels till our passion dies."

Thomas Dekker  1572-1632

   And so our national soap opera turns.  But I wonder, 

should we really care?

"The saints are sinners who kept on going."

Robert Louis Stevenson  1850-1894

DAY FILE

CALIFORNIA TEXTURE

   See you down the trail.